[shayes666]

Is there anyone out there that has experience in raising baitfish? I'm thinking of raising minnows, chubs or shinners but don't know where to start. Can this be done in an aquarium? Is there any good spots around to catch minnows to get a start? Can baitfish breed in captivity? any info would help.

Thanks!

 

[Zman]

I think you would need some type of license...the state usually likes to get involved when people start to think about raising what the DOW views as undesireable species...

And it was nice talking to you yesterday at Harriman...Great job on the Catfish!...

 

[mista tuan]

if u wanted to .... a 10 gallon tank should do depending on wat ur trying to breed.

 

[sir_catch_alot]

i used to dump all my left over minnows in my 35 gallon fish tank i had in the basement. I found that they do better in cooler areas

 

[michael in parker]

I tried throwing a bunch of left over minnows in my fish tank but they all died within a few days. The fish had plenty of oxygen but I think the water was too warm.

If you can figure out how to keep the water cool, you might have some success.

 

[Zman]

They make chillers but they are pricey...

High Country Bass used an old chest type freezer with the lid removed and put water in it...and turned it on to keep it cold...if I remember correctly...

 

[roadkill]

keeping bait fish and getting them to breed are 2 different things.

breeding baitfish like shinners ussually take a small pond to be successful like round an acre

try these links for starters and do a bunch of related google searches

http://aquanic.org/beginer/baitfish/baitfish.htm

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA038

personaly lastyear after checking this out i decided that it would be far easyer and cheeper to buy baitfish in bulk like from outlaw bait and tackle in the springs and get set up to "keep" them all season

you should check out some aquaculture books and sites, for info on how large a tank and how to care and feed them. for me i plan on getting a 200-300gallon deep stock tank and build a LARGE bio filter for it and buy a couple pounds of shinners and go from there, i just havent got around to doing it just yet

 

[Fishintim]

Roadkill is right. Used to trap and sell bait in NM. Had large, deep cement tanks to keep bait in. Had some winter over but never had any hatch. Generally, with chubs at least, when they start to spawn, the males get the black heads and sprout the horns and will end up killing everything around them.

 

[roadkill]

if you can pull of the right conditions for shinners to spawn the easyest method would be the egg transfer method this is where you put floating mats in for them to lay the eggs on then move the floating mats to a separate tank with nothing to eat them and then if you can keep the conditons good for then just feed them after they hatch theres a lot of math in figuring the amount of food to feed since it is based on the wieght of the fish and they convert only a % of the food to fish mass so if your off a little then it compounds daily and in a short time you can be way under/over feeding both are very bad

but maintaining bait sized shinners is much easyer keep the water cool and toss in some gold fish flakes just enough that they will eat in a few mins and have a big ole filter

 

[shayes666]

Cool! Thanks for all tghe info guys! Sounds like I won't be able to breed them, but maybe I can keep a bunch alive for a season or 2. I just need to find a spot to trap or catch some.

 

[roadkill]

i wouldnt waste time trying to catch them you can get a pound and thats a lot of bait for like $20. and you wouldnt want to be the guy that helped spread some disease to a new body of water